Feed mechanism for sheet material



June 1l, 1929. F, D FQWLE 1,716,375

FEED MECHANISM FOR SHEET MATERIAL A Filed Nov. 30, 1927 Patented Junel11, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I FRED D. FOWLER, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HOOD RUBBER COM-PANY, OF WATERTOWN', MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

FEED MECHANISM FOR SHEET .'MATERIAL.

Application led November 30, 1927. Seriall No. 236,734,

This invention relates to a mechanism for feedingjshect material and isparticularly adapted for feeding uncured rubberized fabric, although itis to be understood that the invention can be utilized for feeding otherkinds of sheetfabric than uncured rubberized fabric and that the claimsare not limited to this particular use of the invention.

In feeding fabric from a roll of the same, especially rubberized fabric,there is considerable tension appliedto the fabric due to the tackinessof the stock when the fabric is drawn from the supply roll, and thistension tends to stretch and narrow the strip, thus distorting it,especially is this the case where the textile fabric is cut on a bias.In order to overcome this ditlieulty the fabric is fed between a pair offeed rolls, and between the feed rolls and the supply of sheet material,which is preferably positioned on a roll, there is interposed anauxiliary feed roll, the surface speed of whichv is greater than thesurface speed of the pair of feed rolls between'which the sheet materialis fed. This auxiliary feed roll is positioned with its bottomsurface'below a plane tangential to the pair of feed rolls and when thefeed rolls have taken up enough of the fabric to cause the same toengage the under surface of the auxiliary feed roll, this auxiliary feedroll, which is rotated with a surface speed greater than the surfacespeed of the. feed rolls, will pull a certain amount of the fabric fromthe supply roll, whereupon the fabric will drop below the auxiliary feedroll and the pair of feed rolls will then only need to pull the fabricwith tension sufiicient to lift the material until it again comes intocontact with the auxiliary feed roll.

With very tacky material there is a tendency for the rubberized fabricto follow around with the auxiliary roll at certain times, and this isovercome by means ofv a spring-actuated doctorcontacting with theperiphery of the auxiliary feed roll.

The object of the invention, therefore, is

i to feed sheet material by means of a pair of feed rolls without thesame being distorted'by said feed rolls, and'to these-ends the inventionconsists in the combination and ar' rangement of parts set forth 1n thcfollow-` ing `specilication and particularly pointed out in the claims.

the rolls 6 being fastened to a driving shaft 7 which is driven by anysuitable means, such as, gearing, not shown in the drawings. The roll 5is an idler roll, but may be driven by gearing or any 'suitable means,if so desired. The sheet material 8 is rolled upon a supply roll 9,rotatably mounted upon the frame 10 and said material passes from theroll 9 to a guide roll 11, which is an idler roll rotatably mounted uponthe frame 1.0. From the guide roll 11 the material 8 passes downwardlyand beneath an auxiliary feed roll 12 which is fastened to a shaft 13rotatably mounted in a bearing 14 on the frame 10.. The shaft 13 isdriven by a pulley 15 whlch is driven by a cross belt 16 and pulley 17,the pulley 17 being fastened to the shaft 7. u lThe sheet material 8passes from the aux-V iliary feed roll 12 over another idler guide roll18 and thence the material passes between the feed rolls 5 and Thepulleys 17 and 15 and the diameters of the rolls 6 and 12 are relativelyof such proportions that the surface speed of the auxlliary guide roll12 is greater than the surface speed ofthe feed rolls 5 and 6.

A doctor 19 contacts with the upper ortion of the periphery of theauxiliary eed roll 12 and is -held there-against by a spring pressure bymeans 'of a spring 20, the bearing surface ofthe doctor being formedupon a radius shorter than the radius of the auxiliary guide roll, sothat the edges 21 ofthe doctor contact with the periphery of theauxiliary feed roll. f

The general operation of the feed mechanism hereinbeforespecifcallydescribed is as follows z-The sheet material 8 passes fromthe supply roll 9 upwardly over the guide roll 11, then downwardlybeneath the auxiliary feed roll 12, then u wardly and over the guideroll 18, and t ence between the and 6, the material will be pulled fromthe i supply roll 9 at a greater speed than the feed rolls 5 and 6 canaccommodate, accordingly the material becomes slack between the twoguide rolls y11 and 18 and temporarily drops downwardly out of contactwith the auxiliary feed roll 12 until such time as the feed rolls 5 and6 take up the slack in the material and cause it to again contact withthe under side of the auxiliary feed roll 12. This operationv continuesfrom time to time and'venables the material to be fed with a very lightpull from the rolls 5 and 6, that is, the tension on the material, dueto the feeding of the rolls 5 and 6, will vonly be sufficient to liftthe slack material until it contacts with the auxiliary roll 12. Y

When the material is pulled from the supply roll 9. by the auxiliaryfeed roll 12 it willv be somewhat distorted and before it arrives at thefeed rolls 5 and 6 it regains its normal shape, free of distortion, dueto the fact that it hangs downwardly from the guide roll 18 in -a slackcondition and is enabled before it arrives at the feed rolls 5 and 6 toregain its normal shape.

If the material sticks tothe auxiliary feed roll 12, it will tend to becarried along by said feed roll until it encounters one of the edges 21of the doctorwhen it will be strippeg from the periphery of theauxiliaryfeed ro I claim: l e

1. A mechanism for feeding sheet material having, in combination, a pairof feed rolls, an auxiliary feed roll positioned in advance of saidpairof feed rolls, means to guide sheet material to said auxiliary feedroll, and means to rotate said auxiliary feed roll at a greater surfacespeed than that of said pair of feed rolls, l

y2. A mechanism for feeding sheet material having, in combination, apair of feed rolls, an auxiliary feed roll positioned in ad- Vance ofsaid pairof feed rolls, means to guide sheet material to said auxiliaryfeed roll and 'from said auxiliary feed roll to said pair of feed rolls,and means to rotate` said auxiliary feed roll at a greater surface speedthan that of said pair of feed rolls.

3. A mechanism for feeding sheet material having, in combination, a pairof feed rolls,

an auxiliary feed roll positioned in advance of said pair of feed rolls,a horizontal plane gent to the lower roll of said pair of feed rolls,means to guide sheet material to said auxiliary feed roll, and means torotate said auxiliary feed roll at a greater surface speed than that ofsaid pair of feed rolls.

4. A mechanism for feeding sheet material having, in combination, a pairof -feed rolls, an auxiliary feed roll positioned in advance of saidpair of feed; rolls, means to guide sheet materiall downwardly beneathsaid auxiliary feed roll and upwardly therefrom to said pair of feedrolls, andmeans to rotate said auxiliary feed roll at a greater surlfacespeed than that of said pair of feed rol s.

5. A mechanism for feeding sheet material having, in combination,a-pairof feed rolls, an auxiliary feed roll positioned in advance ofsaid pair of feed rolls, a guide roll interposed between the auxiliaryfeed roll and th pair of feed rolls, andanother guide lroll positionedin advance of the auxiliary feed roll, said guide rolls being positionedabove the auxiliary feed roll, and means to rotate said auxiliary feedrollA at a greater sulface speed than that of said pair of feed ro s.

6. A machine for feeding rubberized sheet material having, incombination, a pair of `feed rolls, an auxiliary feed roll in advance ofsaid pair of feed rolls, a rubberized surface of said sheet materialcontacting with the auxiliary feed roll, a doctor contacting with theperiphery of the auxiliary feed'v roll and adapted to detach the `sheetmaterial therefrom, means to guide the rubberized sheet material to saidauxiliary feed roll, and means to rotate said 'auxiliary feed roll at agreater surface speed than that of said pair of feed rolls.

7; A machine for feeding sheet material having, in combination, a pairoffeed rolls, a sheet material supply roll, an auxiliary feed rollinterposed between said supply roll and said pair of feed rolls, a planet'angent to thebottom of the auxiliary roll being positioned below aplane tangent to the pair of feed rolls, a guide roll interposed betweensaid pair of feed rolls and said auxiliary feed roll, another guide rollpositioned in advance of said auxiliary feed roll, said guide'rollsbeing positionedabove the auxiliary feed roll, and means to rotate saidauxiliary feed roll at a greater surface speed than that of said pair offeed rolls.

In testimony whereof I have' hereunto set my hand.

FRED D. FOWLER.

